86: Eighty Six

Eighty-six years old at this writing, American composer, arranger, producer and pianist Dave Grusin has composed many scores for feature films and television, won numerous awards for his soundtrack and record work – including an Academy Award and ten Grammy Awards – and is the co-founder of GRP Records. Presented here in their entireties are Grusin’s first and second LPs as a leader, A Jazz Version of the Broadway Hit Subways Are for Sleeping (Epic LN- 3829) and Piano, Strings and Moonlight: The Many Moods of Dave Grusin (Epic BN-26023). The former, recorded in a trio format with bassist Milt Hinton and drummer Don Lamond, focuses on selections from the Broadway musical Subways Are for Sleeping. The latter is a collection of standards (plus the original tune “Sara Jane”) and features the trio (with Ossie Johnson on drums replacing Lamond) with the addition of strings arranged and conducted by Grusin himself.

George Philipp Telemann was a composer whose creative powers continued undiminished through his old age of eighty six years. The last decade of his life witnessed an astonishing creative surge, perhaps comparable only to that of Verdi. It was then that the eighty-year-old, with all the benefits of mature mastery at his command, penned some of his most beautiful vocal works. The oratorio "The Delivered Israel" is a work from this period.